Karl-Anthony Towns still ‘stunned’ a year after being traded from Timberwolves to Knicks

NEW YORK – More than a year after the Timberwolves traded Karl-Anthony Towns to the Knicks for Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo, some of the shock Towns felt that day hasn’t gone away.

On Wednesday, he squared off against his old friends for the second time in a regular-season game (he was injured for one of the contests last year) and is now 2-0 against the Wolves after New York’s 137-114 victory at Madison Square Garden.

Afterward, he paid the Wolves plenty of compliments for the team they have and what they have built, but he still admitted he wasn’t fully over the trade, even after going to the Eastern Conference finals last season with the Knicks.

“I’m still stunned. It’s weird,” Towns said.

“You feel more like a Knick now after what we went through last year to get to the heights we went to. But it’s weird when you see that Timberwolves jersey, especially them fire black ones y’all got. Not being able to see Towns on the back, it’s weird feeling.

“I love those guys. I love that locker room to death. I’m willing to do anything for them, even if it wasn’t about basketball.”

Towns had a successful season; he made his fifth All-Star team and third All-NBA team. That came after he helped lead the Wolves to the Western Conference finals the previous season.

“There was something built special there,” Towns said. “Obviously it’s different when you’re in the process and now you’re going against the process. They’re a great team. They’ve built something special there and to see what they’re doing right now is special.

“I expect nothing less than greatness from them.”

Towns said he still keeps in contact with a lot of his teammates, but he showed some of them no mercy in scoring four of his 15 points. He had dunks over both Rudy Gobert and Anthony Edwards.

“Man, he dunked on me today,” Edwards said with a smile. “I didn’t jump though. He backed me down. But he’s strong as hell. And he’s 7 feet tall. I stood him up for 5 seconds, though. At that point, somebody’s got to come help me. At 6-3, 6-4, and he’s 7 feet, I need some help at some point.”